Wednesday nights are group work night for my community garden which consists of both families and singles. Of course, when all of the adults are hard at work in the garden, the youngest kids (2) want to help as well. It’s easy to get nervous about their little feet stomping on tender plants or their little hands pulling something that wasn’t a weed, but we’ve found that they have a great time when we give them specific “jobs.”
By Kathryn Taylor
Here are a few ideas of how they can help contribute:
Weed collector – As the adults pull the weeds, give the little ones a bucket and have them go around and collect them. If you have a compost pile, they can empty the bucket onto the pile.
Master Digger – They can stay close by your side and dig up weeds that you point out with their kid-sized shovels.
Watering Can Duty – We have an herb garden tucked inside of our garden. The regular sprinkler system misses it so it’s a great place for little watering cans to help out.
Having the younger kids in the garden can create a bit more work, but it’s worth it to see them having a great time and making a contribution. If you have more suggestions on how you get your kids involved in the garden, we’d love to hear about them. 
